


Old lessons

by Rogercat



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Childhood Memories, F/M, Family Drama, Gen, Healing, Parenthood, Poison, Valinor, herbs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 16:45:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13438995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: Maglor sends Elrond something unusual





	Old lessons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nuredhel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nuredhel/gifts).



> a early birthday gift

It was a surprise for Celebrian to find a letter for Elrond among all the ones she had gotten this month. It held a Fëanorian seal, the one for Maglor to be precise. What could he want from Elrond? 

“Elrond? Maglor sent a letter despite that you visited him not too long ago?” she asked in slight confusion as she walked to the breakfast table, where he just had been seated.     

“Perhaps I forgot something at his home that I did not notice as I traveled back home?”  

Elrond chose to wait a bit with the letter, as he wanted to finish eating the starting meal of the day with his dear wife. 

“Would not surprise me, it can happen to everyone.” 

He nodded in agreement.

 

As Elrond opened the letter from Maglor after breakfast, a small fabric bag fell out before he managed to get out the actual letter. The scent from the bag revealed some kind of herbs inside. 

“Oh, great, I should have remembered…” Elrond then muttered for himself as he read what his unofficial adopted father had written. Maglor had written a reminder of something he and Maedhros once had done in an attempt to make the young Elrond and Elros immune against a herb that could cause a lot of trouble for mortals. Celebrian did agree that Maglor's request was a bit odd, but logical. After all, that herb did actually grow here in Valinor and it would not be good if less than honest people learnt that Elrond could have that herb as a weakness thanks to his mortal blood.

“Tell our sons to take over the hospital while I am dealing with this. If I am going to get some of the pains I had as a child while dealing with that herb to get immune against it, I am going to be clumsy as hell and unable to hold things between my fingers properly.”

Celebrian was not surprised that Elrond confessed to such minor things, he did have a point in that if he was undergoing a special treatment that likely was going to affect his body for a while it would be dangerous for him to treat any patients.  

 

True enough, as Elrond made the dried herb into a fine powder which he then added in a cup of warm water before he drank it, it took maybe one to two hours before he began to feel numb in his fingers. While the herb was not deadly poisonous, it still was able to leave lasting harm in mortals. Elrond had seen people partially paralyzed in an arm or leg as a result of having mistaken the herb for a more harmless one and eaten it. In really bad cases, whole families had been slowly killed by the herb being added into the daily food like bread or soup and no one thought it was due to the wrong kind of herb. 

“Celebrian, please help me wrap my arms and legs, I should start feeling a rather unpleasant ache in my joints soon.” 

Once that was done, Celebrian helped him into bed before it became more difficult for him to move.  

“I think this is one of the rare times I ever have seen you ill.”   

“Most likely the Elven blood in my veins that have prevented me from getting ill too often, though I think it was worse as a child and youth before choosing the life of the Elves. Maglor and Maedhros tended to get worried as a set of mother hens whatever Elros or I caught something from the children in the nearest human villages we visited at times.” 

  
  


As Elladan and Elrohir was in change of their father's hospital for now, they knew that some unreasonable people would possible demand to see Elrond but they would not allow that to happen. Their father needed to rest while doing this. Besides, he had trained them himself in the basic skills a healer needed to know and both was pretty good, though not to his own ways. 

“Our father is away on a business with someone who was unable to come to the hospital in person. Now, stop whining and let us work.” 

Spitting up the work, the twins was able to do several visiting patients at once. For example, Elladan took care of a little girl who had broken a finger while playing ball with her friends, and Elrohir helped a lady who, in slight embarrassment, confressed to some female issues related to her female area and in need of some healing balm for it. 

“Ah, that is not uncommon among mortal ladies as well, we have treated that before,” Elrohir informed in a soothing tone while looking for a small bottle with the right healing balm. 

  
  
  


On the third day after taking the herb, Elrond came down with a fever, but he still managed to eat the easily chewed food Celebrian had found in one of her many cookbooks, which he and their cooks from Imladris had developed to help patients with difficulty in chewing their food for various reasons. 

“Sorry if it is the food you might want, but chewing and having a fever is not the best things together…I remember that from helping you in the healing wings during the years following the Last Battle,” Celebrian confessed as she hand fed him some smashed pears. 

“I recall the surprise of you and several other Elves arriving from Lothlorien ro help out, despite your father's rather justified protests about all the dangers you could have faced on the way to Imladris,” Elrond laughed weakly, recalling Celeborn acting like a nervous mother hen around his only child when spotting her. Galadriel had been more calm over it all, even if she had been shocked as well. As their only child, Celebrian was their greatest treasure. 

“How are things going for the boys?”

“There have been a few people who demands to be treated by you, but our sons proves to be ours indeed, by refusing to let someone come over here to the house instead of the hospital.”

Well, Elrond was pretty sure that he had seen Erestor literally throw out a few Elves who had arrived just for a rather stupid reason to meet him, not everyone was believing his skills as a master healer due to his mortal blood and others would be a bit of trouble simply because Elrond had spent his whole life in Middle-Earth before arriving to Valinor after Arwen marrying Aragorn.

“Thank the Valar for friends and family that helps out,” was all he commented as he tried to drink some tea without spilling it out. 

  
  


Finally, on the seventh day, Elrond felt normal again, without any numb hands or aching limbs. He knew that he had gotten away with a few of the milder syndromes of poisoning from the herb, and that he could have felt far worse if Maglor had sent a bigger dose in the letter.

“My sons, I will join the hospital once again in two days, I just want to ensure that I will not have a relapse in the middle of treating someone,” he said while they all was gathered together for a family dinner. The twins agreed on that it sounded good, better safe than sorry. 

“I just hope that Maglor will not send something like that too often.” Celebrian replied from her place, stopping to eat as she spoke. 

“No worry, my dear, it is just that my original immunity against the herb had failed over the years. It is pretty rare after all, so I am not really surprised that I did not remember to build up my immune system again over the passing Ages.”

It was in that moment, as Elrond suddenly got a plan to mess with some of his more troublesome protesters, who saw him as below them due to his mixed blood. Oh well, they were gonna get some false tea leaves in the coming days if they caused too much trouble around the hospital. 


End file.
